1) Does a message board (such as us) qualify as a social networking site?

2) "The incident came to light after a lesson at Robbinsville High School warning students of the dangers of websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Afterward, students approached a teacher and said they were concerned about communications with Corvino." This is worth noting. People came forward after a high school assembly (or in-class discussion) about online sexual predators! If I didn't know this, I would've thought such common-sense one-shot classes would be silly and unnecessary. I'm glad I read this.

What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Xenophon's Socrates

Another point, WTF were these girls doing online and their parents had no idea who they were talking to and what they were doing? PARENTS SUPERVISE YOUR KIDS ONLINE!!!! My Stepson had to use the computer in the living room so we could see the screen and he was NEVER allowed his own computer in his room or unsupervised use.

Kids are dumb, I am sure these silly girls probably gave out all kinds of information about themselves, where they lived, if they were alone at times, and I am sure he knew how old they were.

1) Does a message board (such as us) qualify as a social networking site?

yes, oh yes indeed. i'm so waiting for him to show up somewhere online. so far i've seen no evidence he's logged in anywhere since his sentencing. but i'll be looking for him. are you reading this, danny?

2) "The incident came to light after a lesson at Robbinsville High School warning students of the dangers of websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Afterward, students approached a teacher and said they were concerned about communications with Corvino." This is worth noting. People came forward after a high school assembly (or in-class discussion) about online sexual predators! If I didn't know this, I would've thought such common-sense one-shot classes would be silly and unnecessary. I'm glad I read this.

in my highly-uneducated opinion, it's not that the kids can't figure out that it's wrong. they know that and are creeped out. what they need is 'permission,' if you will, from another adult to 'tell on' the pervert. they need to know that they've done nothing wrong and won't be ridiculed or blamed.

Originally Posted by Heltern

Kids are dumb, I am sure these silly girls... and I am sure he knew how old they were.

oh yeah, he knew. the victim in question was his student. and if you go over to some of the news pages about his case, you'll see some of his students posted things along the lines of 'OMG, i told mr. corvino he shouldn't use his real name or show his face online.' these are high school students with more sense than this guy.

Another point, WTF were these girls doing online and their parents had no idea who they were talking to and what they were doing? PARENTS SUPERVISE YOUR KIDS ONLINE!!!! My Stepson had to use the computer in the living room so we could see the screen and he was NEVER allowed his own computer in his room or unsupervised use.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Children, particularly teenagers, and especially high schoolers, need time that is unsupervised. They're gonna have it anyway.

I'm not a parent, but IMuninformedO, kids that age need to be educated and then left to their own decisions. Parents are simply unable to make decisions for their kids.

What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Xenophon's Socrates

Dumb is not the word you mean, right? You mean naive, which is very different. Being a father of two girls I would like to make that absolutely clear.

+1 I was about to post the same thing (- the parenthood part)

A pal of mine found out his kid had been actually on the phone to some fucking asshatperve in Canada. The guy had carefully wheedled information out of the kid over a long period of time. Poor kid feels really bad and has learned a lesson. Kids can be too trusting to any supposed authority figure.

Did he pass on the information to the proper authorities? Heck I would contact my Brother in law in the FBI because I don't know who to contact, lol. Yes, I meant naive, it becomes dumb when you contact a 14 year old girl you know and post your real name and picture online and get caught. Thankfully he was dumb and he didn't listen to the kids advice about online behavior (they actually knew more than the perv did for once).

Dumb=Stupidity is distinct from irrationality because stupidity denotes an incapability or unwillingness to properly consider the relevant information. (Whenever possible my Stepson observed the unwillingness to properly consider the relevant information, like telling someone while my Wife was watching he was 21 when he was actually 16).